Mayor Koch: Adams statues can stay but bigger ones on the way

Saturday

Aug 31, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2013 at 7:04 PM

At the insistence of the volunteer-led Quincy Partnership, Mayor Thomas Koch recently decided that the bronze John and Abigail Adams statues off Hancock Street will be part of the new Adams Green park planned for the revitalized downtown. The city had been mulling plans to move the existing statues, paid for by the Quincy Partnership, and replace them with bigger, more prominent sculptures.

Patrick Ronan

The iconic life-size statues of John and Abigail Adams in Quincy Center aren’t going anywhere, city officials have decided. But they may get company.

At the insistence of the volunteer-led Quincy Partnership, which paid for the two existing statues, Mayor Thomas Koch has decided not to move them when the city builds a new park called Adams Green in front of city hall, part of the revitalized downtown.

But the city is still going forward with plans to solicit new designs for even larger Adams statues, Koch said.

The city was considering moving the existing statues, and replacing them with bigger versions. The idea got a chilly reception from the Partnership, a fundraising group that formed in 1991 to beautify the city.

“(The mayor) seemed to get the message that they should stay in the area,” said Ed Keohane, a Quincy funeral home owner who founded the partnership. “They’re a prominent part of the city of Quincy.”

Koch, a member of the Partnership himself, said although the existing statues, both designed by sculptor Lloyd Lillie, will stay, plans are still moving forward to put larger Adams statues in the new park.

“There will be room for these (bigger statues) and the existing Partnership statues, and I think they’ll all be well-received in the park,” Koch said.

The city recently received bids from 54 sculptors – from as far away as Italy – to design three new statues for Adams Green. Koch said the statues will depict John Adams, the nation’s second president, his wife, Abigail Adams, and John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Koch said the city may add a fourth statue, of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president and son of John and Abigail. John Quincy is depicted as a child in the Abigail Adams monument, built in 1997 next to the Church of Presidents.

The John Adams statue went up in 2001 in City Hall Plaza.

City planners have said taller, more imposing statues would be needed to match the scope of Adams Green, a sprawling park expected to stretch between the church and city hall.

“It’s going to be a world-class park,” Koch said.

Keohane said his group isn’t worried about the new, larger statues minimizing the existing sculptures.

“It’s really not our concern, and it’s out of our hands,” he said.

Koch said the designer of the park, Halvorson Design of Boston, hasn’t decided where all the statues would go in the new park. Halvorson is about 25 percent finished with the park design, the mayor said.

Keohane wants the existing statues to remain in their current spots because they were intentionally placed on opposite sides of Hancock Street, facing each other, to depict a relationship marked by separation. Abigail stayed home to raise their five children while John was overseas on diplomatic missions.

Each statue is expected to cost between $250,000 to $300,000. Koch said the costs will be covered by the state’s I-Cubed financing program, which helps communities pay for large infrastructure projects that will generate new tax revenue at least 1.5 times greater than the projected annual debt service on the related bonds. The financing is expected to cover the Adams Green project as well.

The state’s Department of Administration and Finance, which administers I-Cubed funds, has given Quincy preliminary approval on its application. But the funds won’t be dispersed until the state grants final approval.

Patrick Ronan may be reached at pronan@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @PRonan_Ledger.

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